Scholz assures Zelenskiy of German support at peace summit, Berlin says

Reuters
·1-min read
FILE PHOTO: Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina Becirovic visits Berlin

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed Germany's support for a Ukraine peace summit to be held in Switzerland in mid-June during a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, a government spokesperson in Berlin said on Wednesday.

"The chancellor confirmed his participation and reiterated that Germany actively supported the meeting. They agreed to work towards the broadest possible global participation," a statement from the spokesperson said.

The talks are due to be held on June 15-16 near the Swiss city of Lucerne.

Zelenskiy said that he briefed Scholz about the situation on the battlefield. He added on X that defence cooperation and the upcoming Ukraine Recovery Conference in Berlin were also discussed.

Kyiv sees the summit as the next phase of a months-long diplomatic effort to find a fair end to Moscow's 26-month-old full-scale invasion, and it hopes to involve countries from around the world.

Switzerland has invited more than 160 delegations so far. Russia is not among those invited. The Kremlin has said the meeting is meaningless without Moscow's participation.

(Writing by Rachel More, additional reporting Yuliia Dysa, Editing by Miranda Murray, Kirsten Donovan)

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Iran president helicopter crash: The 'butcher of Tehran' has a fearsome reputation - and many will be fearing instability

    Ebrahim Raisi has been one of Iran's hardest of hardliners, a fanatical and absolute believer in the Iranian revolution and its mission. A man who launched the first direct attack on Israel in his country's history and a hardliner on whose watch hundreds of Iranians have been killed in the brutal repression of recent women-led protests, Mr Raisi has a huge amount of blood on his hands. Mr Raisi has personally been involved in two of the darkest periods of Iranian repression.

  • Trump appears to freeze for 30 seconds on stage during NRA speech

    Biden and Trump campaigns continue to trade barbs over accusations candidates are senile

  • ‘I have never in my lifetime seen as much anger’: how Ireland’s migration system was overwhelmed

    Pub landlord Brian Moore, 54, is busy with customers enjoying a late lunch before they head out into the sunshine.

  • Biden Camp Has a Field Day With Wobbly Trump at Podium

    XThe Biden campaign gleefully turned one of Donald Trump’s favorite digs against him on Saturday, branding the 78-year-old candidate as woefully geriatric in response to his embarrassing stumble at a Minnesota rally on Friday.Video from the event shared by Biden-Harris HQ on X showed Trump grabbing the lectern during his remarks on stage, after nearly toppling the podium over.A feeble Trump nearly falls down on stage after he leans on his podium too hard and then goes on an angry rant calling hi

  • Cameron risks ceding British sovereignty with Gibraltar deal, warn Tories

    David Cameron risks ceding British sovereignty over “one of the most important military strategic assets in the world” with his Gibraltar deal, Conservative MPs have warned.

  • The battle of Monte Cassino: Both glory and dishonour for the French army

    On May 18, 1944, Allied troops captured Monte Cassino in Italy, celebrated for its historic hilltop abbey, after four months of bitter fighting. The soldiers of the French Expeditionary Corps particularly distinguished themselves in the battle for this key point in the German defensive line. But their military honours are now marred by accusations of war crimes. “Garigliano is a great victory ... France will know one day. She will understand.” On the evening of his departure from Italy in August

  • Donald Trump’s lawyer fighting to stop former president from testifying in trial next week

    Donald Trump’s defence lawyer won plaudits for his aggressive handling this week of Michael Cohen, one of the key witnesses in the ongoing “hush money” case against the former president.

  • Helicopter crash could reverberate across the Middle East, where Iran's influence runs wide and deep

    The apparent crash of a helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, the country's foreign minister and other officials is likely to reverberate across the Middle East. Tensions have never been higher than they were last month, when Iran under Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched hundreds of drones and ballistic missiles at Israel in response to an airstrike on an Iranian Consulate in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and five officers. Israel, with the help of the United States, Britain, Jordan and others, intercepted nearly all the projectiles.

  • Trump Ends NRA Speech With ‘Horror’ Warning Set to Dramatic QAnon Music

    Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesDonald Trump followed up his endorsement by the National Rifle Association on Saturday with a speech stoking fears of the government under Joe Biden “coming for your guns,” and a bizarre monologue set to dramatic music resembling a song favored by QAnon.Addressing thousands of members of the NRA at their annual meeting in Texas, the former president stuck to his usual talking points, hailing the reversal of Roe v. Wade as an “amazing thing,” comparing himself to Al Ca

  • Putin targets German speakers in Russia in search for cannon fodder

    Russia has launched a propaganda drive targeting German speakers for its army and Wagner mercenary force in the latest case of Vladimir Putin seeking ethnic minorities to be cannon fodder.

  • The phone call that may upend the Trump NY hush money case

    Gene Rossi and Leslie Ellis join The Lead

  • Remainers are incapable of admitting the truth about the EU, and Europe’s shift Right

    Suppose that David Cameron had returned from Brussels in February 2016 with something tangible. Perhaps he had acquired the right to deny benefits to new EU immigrants. Or perhaps he had recovered control of fisheries policy. Or maybe Britain had opted out of the EU’s criminal justice system.

  • Stefanik Loses It When Fox News Host Reminds Her She Called Trump a ‘Whack Job’

    "It's a disgrace that you would take a New York Times article and just read negative quotes," the congresswoman said to host Shannon Bream

  • Britain must unashamedly put British interests first

    One of Charles de Gaulle’s most famous rhetorical flourishes was that “France has no friends, only interests”. His dogged pursuit of those interests, at the expense of the Entente Cordiale, regularly brought him into conflict with British prime ministers – whether over the Common Market or Nato. He believed that was a price worth paying: protecting France’s power and autonomy was a duty he was bound to elevate above all else.

  • Reporter Puts Trump on the Spot Over His 2020 Vow on Minnesota

    KSTPIn an interview with a St. Paul, Minnesota reporter that aired a few days before his scheduled appearance Friday at the state GOP Lincoln Day fundraising dinner, former President Donald Trump denied saying that he wouldn’t return to the Midwest state if he lost it in 2020—but the local ABC affiliate brought the receipts to prove otherwise.KSTP reporter Tom Hauser spoke with Trump over a video call conducted Tuesday before the indicted ex-president went to court to hear testimony from his for

  • Finland to present plan to push back migrants on Russian border

    Finland will propose a law next week allowing border agents to block asylum seekers trying to enter from Russia, the prime minister said on Sunday, a decision that could cause Helsinki to temporarily breach its international commitments. Finland shut its border with Russia last year to stop a growing number of arrivals from countries including Syria and Somalia, and accused Moscow of weaponising migration against it and the European Union, an assertion the Kremlin denies. Finland annoyed Russia last year by abandoning its long-held military non-alignment and joining the NATO alliance in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

  • Hands off Gibraltar

    Madrid has never hidden its designs on Gibraltar. A British Overseas Territory, it may have close economic links with Spain, but protecting the UK’s sovereignty over the Rock has for centuries been a central pillar of Britain’s foreign policy.

  • UK owes Caribbean nations £205bn in reparations, says Cambridge academic

    Britain owes Caribbean nations more than £200 billion in slavery reparations, a leading academic has claimed.

  • Kids are going hungry and the country is on its knees, so lets get rid of those lanyards

    Latest government announcements show they have no interest in fixing the country - they just want to stoke the culture wars

  • Ukraine reports no artillery shortages for first time in war, says Zelenskyy

    The refreshed artillery is now helping to blunt Russian advances around Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, a report said.